Tag: Hope

The Joy of Life

Improvement

Poem by Edgar Albert Guest

The joy of life is living it, or so it seems to me;
In finding shackles on your wrists, then struggling till you’re free;
In seeing wrongs and righting them, in dreaming splendid dreams,
Then toiling till the vision is as real as moving streams.
The happiest mortal on the earth is he who ends his day
By leaving better than he found to bloom along the way.
Were all things perfect here there would be naught for man to do;
If what is old were good enough we’d never need the new.
The only happy time of rest is that which follows strife
And sees some contribution made unto the joy of life.
And he who has oppression felt and conquered it is he
Who really knows the happiness and peace of being free.
The miseries of earth are here and with them all must cope.
Who seeks for joy, through hedges thick of care and pain must grope.
Through disappointment man must go to value pleasure’s thrill;
To really know the joy of health a man must first be ill.
The wrongs are here for man to right, and happiness is had
By striving to supplant with good the evil and the bad.
The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth,
In making bright and fruitful all the barren spots of earth.
In facing odds and mastering them and rising from defeat,
And making true what once was false, and what was bitter, sweet.
For only he knows perfect joy whose little bit of soil
Is richer ground than what it was when he began to toil.

            What is a good life?  What is the measure of a life well lived?  These are questions that we all ask as we navigate our way through life.  And for me, I like to reframe the question to the following: “When my time is up and I pass on from this life, what do I want to be remembered for and what kind of person do I want to be remembered as?  And the answer is simple; I want to be remembered for having left this world a better place than when I came into it.  I want to leave a positive footprint.  I also want to be remembered as a person who shared love in a world full of hate.  This is my legacy in the making. . .what will yours be?

A Mother’s Day Poem

I felt it was time to publish one of my own original works and what better occasion than Mother’s Day.  I dedicate this poem to my mom.

A Mother’s Day Poem

By LeKeisha Suggs

A mother is always there to wipe away the tears
When things get rough, she is there to tell you it will be alright
She is there to cheer you on as you face your fears
And when you feel like quitting, she will tell you to never give up the fight

A mother is always there to share in every triumph and every fail
When you stumble, she is there to lend a steady hand
She is there to support you when you are ready to set sail
And when things don’t work, she’s there to say, “Okay, what’s the plan”?

A mother is there to teach you how to first crawl and then walk
When you are unsure, she is there to point you toward the right door
She is there to guide you along life’s winding paths and be your steady rock
And when you are ready to fly, she says “Stand on my shoulders, so you can soar”

Dear Mom,

I would not be half the woman I am today if it weren’t for your unconditional love, support and strength over the years.  You are my biggest cheerleader, my toughest critic and my best friend.  You always tell it to me straight.  Your belief and confidence that I am worth something and am capable of achieving any and all of my dreams provides me fuel to keep the fires blazing when the nights are long and cold.  As I get older, my appreciation for all that you do and all that you are deepens.

I love you more than words can express.  I feel blessed and proud to call you Mom.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!

The Invitation

The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

       When the cards are stacked against you, will you choose to “show up”?  No one person was meant to live a small, bleak life.  Every single person is capable of great things and should settle for no less.  Whether it be rain or sunshine, you should strive to always “show up” for every moment of your life.  You get but one chance at life, so make it count!

This Too Shall Pass

This Too Shall Pass

~ Helen Steiner Rice

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

         When you are going through hell, it is so hard to imagine better days ahead.  You feel broken and alone.  It is in these moments that you need to focus on surviving the next minute, hour, day, week, and so on.  As time progresses, you will begin to realize that the storm clouds will recede and even though you may be a little worse for wear, you will survive the storm.  So, it is when you are at your lowest that you must have faith that no matter how long the night, the dawn will break.

Waiting

Waiting . . .

by John Burroughs

Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more ‘gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it hath sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

            Have Patience and Faith that in the end things will work out.

         It is often difficult to accept our circumstances.  To know that you have done all that you can and all you can do now is be patient and wait for the chips to fall as they may.  But, it is at these times when you have to have faith that everything will work out. . .that sometimes it takes time for life to unfold the way it is meant to.  And, during these moments when you begin to doubt and question the path you are on, you must take a deep breath, stay the course and simply let life happen.